Kindly
by usoverlooked
Summary: Ginny feels a bit friendless during her third year. One-shot. Non-slash.


Being a social pariah was a lot of work. Ginny Weasley realized this during her third year at Hogwarts. She was friends with her brothers, as well as Harry and Hermione and that was quite nice. However, in class she had no friends. Anytime she thought about complaining about her workload, she noticed Fred and George attempting to cheat off Angelina in some class or Ron measuring out the billionth of an inch on a writing assignment for Divination or Hermione borrowing Harry's quill to fix yet another spelling error, she thought better of it. They had all clearly survived their second year just fine and that had been including all the Heir of Slytherin problems. She felt quite alone at times for the majority of the year. It wasn't that she didn't love her friends, but they were all so clique-ish in ways. Harry, Hermione and Ron all liked her (well, Ron tolerated her as much as a brother does a sister) but the three of them were a set. You couldn't barge in and become part of it, she had missed the time for that, it seemed. Fred and George were Fred and George. Hanging out with them often meant being a test dummy or doing something that would cost Gryffindor points. Percy was far too busy, not that Ginny really wanted to hang out with the stuffiest of her brothers. It was one day after Potions that Ginny made her closest friend. She was in a rush and forgot to completely shut her bag. It spewed open in the hall, sending a few of her books careening down the corridor.

"If she has an old diary, get it away from her!" A Slytherin girl commented to her friends as she passed. The group laughed and the sound seemed to close in on Ginny. For the most part, people didn't mention the incidents of last year. The Slytherins occasionally enjoyed a good jeer at her expense, but the other houses were mostly quiet (probably scared of her older brothers, Harry or Ginny still retaining some sort of evil power). Ginny blushed as she crouched to pick up the last of her books, but a girl (Ginny could tell by the shoes) grabbed one before she could.

"I used to keep a diary too, but then I thought that it might be like yours so I stopped." The girl stated plainly as Ginny straightened up. She was a Ravenclaw, which Ginny found odd. Usually Ravenclaws weren't rude.

"I see." Ginny replied as she grabbed the book. The girl smiled and nodded.

"It probably wasn't, but people already seem to dislike me and I don't have friends to help me like you did so I thought it best." She said simply. She shrugged and began to walk away.

"Wait, what do you mean you don't have any friends?" Ginny asked. The girl shrugged and replied that it was that simple, she had no friends. Ginny protested. "But you have to have _some_."

"Not exactly. It's alright though, if I'm myself, someone will like my company eventually." She turned and waltzed off. Ginny stared after her for a moment, the girl was jostled and bumped in the hall but she didn't even seem to realize, before she remembered she had a class to hurry to.

A few days later, Ginny heard someone toss a shoe into the air during morning break. Figuring it was the twins with one of Percy's shoes, she figured it would be up to her to break up the dispute. She was surprised to find the girl, throwing her own shoe into the air.

"What're you doing that for?" Ginny asked.

"I'm knocking down the nargles." She said quietly. She bit her lip for a moment before continuing. "I know you probably can't see them, but there's still there."

"I believe you." Ginny replied, surprising both herself and the girl. There was something so beat-down about the way the Ravenclaw had said it that Ginny felt the need to help her. "I couldn't see You-Know-Who last year, but he was controlling me. I'm, uh, I'm Ginny, by the way."

The girl smiled. Ginny realized after a beat that it was the first time she had outright mentioned the incident to anyone outside her family and Ron's two closest friends. She felt suddenly very nervous.

"I knew you were Ginny, everyone knows you and your brothers. You're all quite well-liked, for the most part. I'm Luna." She smiled.

"Well, Luna, thanks for picking up my book the other day. Most people don't seem to want to help me around here."

"Me either." Luna admitted. "That's why I helped you."

"Maybe…Y'know if you don't really hang out with anyone in Ravenclaw, we could work together on Potions work or something like that." Ginny stuttered.

"That'd be nice." Luna replied. "Maybe we could even be friends."

"Maybe."

_a/n: I realize that Luna & Ginny probably knew each other from around, seeing as how they were neighbors, but in my head, I imagine them not really knowing each other well. Thanks for reading. Just a one-shot, but reviews are still well loved._


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